2014 NHL Draft Prospects Profiles: Kevin Fiala

2014 NHL Draft Prospects Profiles: Kevin FialaWith the 11th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft the Nashville Predators selected Swiss- born forward Kevin Fiala. Fiala was the fastest rising prospect entering the draft. After starting the year with a second-round projection, Fiala soared up rankings and ended the year ranked in the top three for European skaters by nearly all scouting services.

Kevin Fiala

Birthplace: St. Gallen, Switzerland

Date of Birth/Age: July 22, 1996 (17)

Current Team: HV 71, (Swedish Hockey League)

Position: Center

Height: 5-10

Weight: 178 pounds

With the 11th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft the Nashville Predators selected Swiss- born forward Kevin Fiala.

Fiala was the fastest rising prospects entering the draft. After starting the year with a second-round projection, Fiala soared up rankings and ended the year ranked in the top three for European skaters by nearly all scouting services.

Standing 5-10 and 178 pounds, Fiala is one of the smaller players in this year’s class, but that hasn’t stopped the 17-year-old from putting up big numbers in Sweden’s top professional leagues.

The gritty center, who models his game after Sidney Crosby, says he isn’t afraid to play against anyone, and his numbers back it up. Fiala has produced nearly a point per game with HV-71’s junior team, as well as HV-71’s Swedish elite league team.

Aside from his stellar professional league campaign, Fiala represented his homeland at the World Junior Championship in Sweden, the Under-18 World Championship in Finland and the World Championship in Belarus in 2014. He became just the third player ever to participate in all three tournaments in the same year (Andrei Kostitsyn and Vadim Karagan, Belarus in 2003). Fiala led the Swiss in points at both the under-18 tournament (4g-5a-9pts, 5gp), being named one of the nation’s three best players in the process, and World Juniors (1g-4a-5pts, 5gp) as the team’s youngest member. At 17, he was the youngest member of Switzerland’s entry at the World Championship by three years, posting three assists and a team-best +3 rating playing alongside Predators defenseman Roman Josi and forward Simon Moser.

Fiala’s skills in the offensive zone are elite. He is a smooth skater that doesn’t get slowed down by checks. His stick-handling and passing skills are exceptional, and can find the back of the net from any angle with his quick and accurate wrist shot. Fiala is also known to play with a chip on his shoulder. His size doesn’t deter him from crashing the net and getting under his opponents skin.

Fiala is the fourth Swiss player to be drafted by the Predators in franchise history. (Roman Josi, Martin Hohner, Timo Helbling). This will also be the third time in the last four years that the Predators have used their top pick on a European-born player.

Scout’s Comments:

"He impressed me with his explosive skating, great puck-handling skills and overall quickness and speed. He has great offensive instincts and is full of surprises in the offensive zone. He just needs a bit more muscle and strength and some work in his defensive zone." Goran Stubb, Director of European Scouting